Sassanid Castles - Sassanid Empire Chronology

Sassanid Empire Chronology

226–241: Reign of Ardashir I:

• 224–226: Overthrow of Parthian Empire
• 229–232: War with Rome
• Zoroastrianism is revived as official religion
• The collection of texts known as the Zend Avesta is assembled

241–271: Reign of Shapur I "the Great":

• 241–244: War with Rome
• 252–261: War with Rome. Decisive victory of Persian at Edessa and Capture of Roman emperor Valerian
• 215–271: Mani, founder of Manicheanism

271–301: A period of dynastic struggles

283: War with Rome

296-8: War with Rome – Persia cedes five provinces east of the Tigris to Rome

309–379: Reign of Shapur II "the Great":

• 337–350: First war with Rome with relatively little success
• 359–363: Second war with Rome. Rome returns trans-Tigris provinces and cedes Nisibis and Singara to Persia

387: Armenia partitioned into Roman and Persian zones

399–420: Reign of Yazdegerd I "the Sinner":

• 409: Christian are permitted to publicly worship and to build churches
• 416–420: Persecution of Christians as Yazdegerd revokes his earlier order

420–438: Reign of Bahram V:

• 420–422: War with Rome
• 424: Council of Dad-Ishu declares the Eastern Church independent of Constantinople
• 428: Persian zone of Armenia annexed to Sassanid Empire

438–457: Reign of Yazdegerd II:

• 441: War with Rome
• 449-451: Armenian revolt

482-3: Armenian and Iberian revolt

483: Edict of Toleration granted to Christians

484: Peroz I defeated and killed by Hephthalites

491: Armenian revolt. Armenian Church repudiates the Council of Chalcedon:

• Nestorian Christianity becomes dominant Christian sect in Sassanid Empire

502-506: War with Constantinople

526-532: War with Constantinople

531–579: Reign of Khosrau I, "with the immortal soul" (Anushirvan)

540–562: War with Constantinople

572-591: War with Constantinople – Persia cedes much of Armenia and Iberia to Constantinople

590–628: Reign of Khosrau II

603–628: War with Byzantium. Persia occupies Byzantine Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the Transcaucasus, before being driven to withdraw to pre-war frontiers by Byzantine counter-offensive

610: Arabs defeat a Sassanid army at Dhu-Qar

626: Unsuccessful siege of Constantinople by Avars and Persians

627: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius invades Assyria and Mesopotamia. Decisive defeat of Persian forces at the battle of Nineveh

628–632: Chaotic period of multiple rulers

632–644: Reality reign of Yazdegerd III

636(XI): Decisive Sassanid defeat at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah during the Islamic conquest of Iran

641(XII): Final victory of Arabs when Persian army destroyed at the Battle of Nihawānd

651: Last Sassanid ruler Yazdegerd III then fled eastward from one district to another, until at last he was killed by a local miller for his purse at Merv (present-day Turkmenistan), ending the dynasty. His son, Peroz II, and many others went into exile in China.